Qingzhou. Linjiang Prefecture.

The main street was busy with merchants and traders, seemingly no different from any other day.

In the teahouse, the storyteller was going hoarse trying to squeeze more coins from the unusually large crowd — but more listeners meant fewer willing to pay.

Common people couldn't read the shape of things clearly. They caught only fragments from embellished rumors — a few words here and there about high-level battles between Qingzhou's practitioners and demons.

But the instinct for danger — that was what they lived by.

When the constables patrolling the street let out a sigh between themselves, or when a few unfamiliar jianghu faces appeared in the city with expressions too serious for travelers — the coarse grain in the pot got replaced by rougher chaff, the oil-dregs in the bowl became plain salted vegetables, and the saved copper coins became stored grain hidden somewhere inconspicuous in the house.

A carriage moved slowly along the main street and stopped outside the Demon Suppression General's compound — the building looked like it hadn't been refurbished in years.

At the gate stood an old man whose hands were slightly unsteady, carefully sweeping up fallen leaves with a broom.

His hearing seemed to have gone somewhat. Not until the coachman pulled in the reins and shouted three times in succession did the old man finally look up, blinking.

"Who are you looking for?"

The figure that stepped down from the carriage made the old man drop the broom on instinct. He worked his bent frame upright and called out in a strained voice.

"Huang Jian greets the personal attendant Deputy Commander!"

The young man wore the openwork gold-black hair crown, the wolf-devouring-the-moon cloak, the yin-yang fish emblem at the collar, jade at the belt, and the three-foot dark blade at the hip.

Everything about it said this was the man who held the position that guarded Linjiang Prefecture.

The young, pale face, however, left Huang Jian digging through his memory with visible frustration. He simply couldn't produce the name. Age was terrible for this.

The young man gave a…